The Black Market Trust
Friday, October 22, 2021 at 8pm
presented by Irvine Barclay Theatre
Performance Sponsor:
Jennifer Klein
This performance will include a 15-minute intermission.
Song selections will be announced from the stage.
Jeffery Scott Radaich: Guitar and Lead Vocals
Nick Coventry: Violin and Vocals
Brian Netzly: Acoustic Bass and Vocals
Brandon Laws: Drums and Vocals
Kale "Kully" Stiles: Rhythm Guitar, Clarinet, Saxophone and Vocals
The Black Market Trust
The Black Market Trust are an American pop/vocal jazz band whose music combines the sounds of the great American crooners and vocal groups with the romantic Eastern European gypsy fire of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Consisting of five world class musicians who have traveled the globe, recording and performing on the world’s biggest stages and playing with the most renowned artists, The Black Market Trust capitalized on their experience and pedigree to deliver a critically acclaimed sophomore album that brought a new and exciting sound to 12 tried and true classic songs. More recordings followed, the most recent being the newly released Anything For You.
The band’s all-instrumental debut studio album, The Black Market Trust, released in 2012, is widely regarded as a milestone in the gypsy jazz world. The band’s lead guitarist, Jeffrey Scott Radaich, gained notoriety for his technical prowess and musicality. He has been touted as one of the most innovative and influential American acoustic gypsy jazz guitarists today. With their first release, the band established themselves as leaders and innovators by combining pop “Brill Building” sensibilities with the traditional sound of Django Reinhardt’s Hot Club of France Quintet.
From 2009 to 2015 bassist Brian Netzley, along with guitarist Radaich, were members of the groundbreaking Gonzalo Bergara Quartet, whose rapid rise in the jazz world was cemented by twice headlining the prestigious Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-sur-Seine, France (the final resting place of jazz icon Django Reinhardt). After spending six formative years as supporting cast members with Bergara, Netzley and Radaich decided the time was right to focus on a new project that would stay true to their love of Django but combine it with a new American flavor, sound, and sensibility. To round out the lineup, Radaich and Netzley added Los Angeles-based session and touring drummer Brandon Laws, Nick Coventry, a Tucson, Arizona, violin hero/Eastern European folk music expert, and, finally, rhythm guitar whiz kid Kale “Kully” Stiles.
Merging their love of everything from The Mills Brothers to The Beach Boys, Sinatra to Lennon/McCartney, the band began to arrange lead and three-part vocal harmony lines to 12 of their favorite Great American Songbook standards. Using Radaich’s emotive, light baritone as the focus and surrounding it with the vocal talents of all the other members, the band began to melt two distinctly different vibes — one of a gypsy campfire, the other, a slick metropolitan nightclub — into a cohesive, stylish sound.
Band Member Bios
Jeffery Scott Radaich: Guitar and Lead Vocals
Whether it’s traveling the globe with the Gonzalo Beragra Quartet, backing up Grammy-winning guitarist John Jorgensen, or playing rhythm for gypsy jazz icons Bereli Lagrene and Stochelo Rosenberg, vocalist/guitarist Jeffrey Scott Radaich has become known around the world as a first call player when it comes to gypsy swing. A Southern California native, Jeffrey grew up influenced by rock guitarists Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Nuno Bettencourt, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 2006, he was exposed to the music of Django Reinhardt and immediately fell in love with the style. Since then, Jeffrey has worked to develop a unique and fiery style of lead guitar that is a synthesis of his lead guitar heroes, with nods to classical composers, blues legends, and western swing steel guitar greats. Jeffrey's take on the gypsy swing style is distinctly American, and he has risen in the ranks to become one of the top gypsy swing lead guitarists in North America, and an in-demand instructor at master classes around the world. In addition to handling the lead guitar duties for The Black Market Trust, Jeffrey is also the lead singer with a rich baritone that pays homage to the great crooners while emoting with a tone and phrasing that is all his own.
Nick Coventry: Violin and Vocals
At 33, Nick Coventry is fast becoming one of the most respected gypsy jazz violinists around, sharing the stage with guitarists John Jorgenson and Gonzalo Bergara, and playing festivals and stages in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, in addition to playing throughout Europe and South Korea. Influenced by the great swing violinist Stephane Grapelli, Coventry continues this violin jazz legacy while drawing on his own musical experiences as a classically trained violist, bluegrass fiddler, and explorer of various folk music. The Chicago Tribune writes: “Coventry’s melting tone and whispered delivery [were] a high point in the evening’s first set… surely Django would have been pleased.”
Brian Netzly: Acoustic Bass and Vocals
Brian Netzley is one of the most in-demand bassists in today’s gypsy jazz scene. As a member of the Gonzalo Bergara Quartet, The New Hot Club of America, and The Black Market Trust, he has gained a reputation as a solid, tasteful, and versatile player who is frequently asked to back top European artists when they perform in the United States. As a sideman, he has shared the stage with some of the most well-respected names in Gypsy Jazz, such as John Jorgenson, Joscho Stephan, Adrien Moignard, Tim Kliphuis, Paulus Schafer, and Tcha Limberger at festivals around the world.
Brandon Laws: Drums and Vocals
Brandon Laws is a touring drummer and percussionist who maintains a studio in Long Beach, California. His fresh perspective, dedication and love for the craft has led him to play with multiple artists in many different styles, and he has recorded and performed throughout the United States and abroad. Brandon began playing with The Black Market Trust in 2015, providing the pulse and energy to the group’s American gypsy swing sound.
Kale "Kully" Stiles: Rhythm Guitar, Clarinet, Saxophone, and Vocals
Kale "Kully" Stiles is a multi-instrumentalist originally from the Big Island of Hawaii who now also calls Long Beach his home. A lover of old songs who is always eager to learn a new melody, he has spent considerable time playing and studying Dixieland music in New Orleans. Although the youngest member of the band, he’s already made a name for himself performing in eclectic jazz combos and also alongside big name acts such as Jackson Browne, Jack Black, Jeff Bridges, and Cheap Trick.
For more information about The Black Market Trust, please vistit their website.
